GLOBAL INSECURITY

U.S. Navy SEALs rescue American hostage in Somalia

Overnight raid involves same team that killed bin Laden

A U.S. official tells The Associated Press that the Navy SEAL team that rescued the American and Danish hostages in Somalia was the same one that killed Osama bin Laden.

Published at 1:15 a.m. ET: WASHINGTON — In a daring nighttime raid Tuesday, U.S. Navy SEALs rescued two hostages, including one American, who were being held by kidnappers in Somalia, U.S. officials tell NBC News.

American Jessica Buchanan, 32, and a 60-year-old Dane, Poul Thisted, were working for a Danish relief organization in northern Somalia when they were kidnapped last October. U.S. officials described their kidnappers as heavily armed common criminals with no known ties to any organized militant group.

According to the U.S. officials, two teams of Navy SEALs landed by helicopter near the compound where the two hostages were being held.